What We're About

Pythagoras and his followers famously declared "All is number”, referring specifically to music. But our LAMP group does not follow this philosophy. For our day jobs, we are musical artists who rely on emotion, improvisation, rhythmic groove, and ineffable qualities like "feel" for our effectiveness. 

That said, the mathematical analysis of Western scales and tuning systems, both historical and modern, is a fascinating subject with a long and dramatic history. This story is well worth telling, and our apps format makes it lucid and fun!

The Grids

I first encountered the format for these Printable Note Ratio grids in David Doty's invaluable Just Intonation Primer. David credits their unique design to his late friend and colleague Dale Soules. I have expanded the system with two additional grids, for Meantone and Equal Temperament, and I've chosen to make them scale-specific by adding note letter names.

Watch for videos coming soon, explaining how the grids work and how they provide endless hours of exploration and super-nerd fun!

Announcing Lean And Mean Productions (LAMP) Apps!

 As of February 2022, our three brand new music theory super-nerd apps are available in the Apple App Store for $1.99 each. Buy now!

PentaMonochord provides a virtual Pythagorean monochord to build a pentatonic scale, showing how the simplest ratios of string lengths relate to the world's oldest melodies. Buy App

MeanTones provides an introduction to quarter-comma meantone temperament, showing how the development of chromatic keyboards required a tradeoff between playability and sonority. Buy App

5ths Machine provides an introduction to equal temperament, demonstrating the current preference for defining the pitch structure of music, with its own advantages and flaws. Buy App